Healdsburg’s efforts to self-manage its housing, utilities and transportation laws have limits. The announcement last week that the DMV approved expansion of Waymo’s authorized service area for autonomous vehicle operations into large areas north of San Francisco, including the counties of Sonoma, Marin and Napa, and cities including Healdsburg, proved as much.
The announcement came not from Waymo, the driverless car pioneer, but from the DMV itself. As the DMV stated, “This amendment to Waymo’s existing deployment and driverless testing permits allows the company to operate in new regions of both Southern and Northern California.”
That statement continues, “In Northern California, the service area now includes the broader Bay Area and Sacramento.”…